Throughout my life, I have known how to express myself without words – through music. To me, music\u2019s universal power to connect people is something more powerful and more emotional than any words. Yet, driven by deep concern about our current reality, I feel it is necessary to elaborate on fundamental issues that affect us all and carry far-reaching implications for our future. In these times, between the mourning period following October 7th and the approaching elections, I ask myself: what are the human values that should be shared by all of us, as one society?<\/p>\n
Good leaders in every sphere of life – not just in politics – lead by personal example. Therefore, I must first state that those who led my country on October 7th must bear responsibility for the political and intelligence failures that led to the atrocities of that day, as well as for the events that followed. It is simply unacceptable for anyone seeking to remain in power to evade public accountability.<\/p>\n
Secondly, anyone aspiring to lead the country must commit to leading all its citizens – which means recognizing Arab Israelis as equal citizens in every respect. I believe that the blanket boycott of Arab political parties is shameful and rooted in racism.<\/p>\n
When I think about Israel, about my home, about the kind of country I want us to have – about the values that will guide the society in which our children and grandchildren will grow up – I yearn for greater compassion and empathy toward those harmed on October 7th, including bereaved families, the hostages, and their loved ones.<\/p>\n
At the same time, responsible leaders must recognize that ensuring the security of Israeli citizens need not come at the expense of feeling sorrow and empathy for Palestinians in Gaza who are not involved in the fighting – most notably the hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children who did not choose the horrific reality in which they now find themselves.<\/p>\n
While it was Hamas that launched the attack and carried out the brutal massacre on October 7th, the victims of the ensuing war are not limited to Israelis. Compassion is a Jewish value with deep historical significance, and it is essential that we embrace a simple truth: no solution to the conflict will ever be found without mutual compassion. This same moral compass should also guide our approach to the rampant violence perpetrated by settlers in the West Bank\u2014violence that warrants unequivocal condemnation and intervention to bring it to an end.<\/p>\n
The pressure on Israel is mounting day by day, extending well beyond the realms of politics, diplomacy, and international trade. Among other things, intense pressure is being exerted on Israeli artists across the globe. A significant part of this stems from political activism with an agenda that opposes the very existence of the State of Israel. In the eyes of these extremists, the mere fact of being Israeli is a sin deserving of punishment. We saw an example of this about a year ago, when the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and I performed in Paris: rioters set fires inside the hall and threw objects at us.<\/p>\n
This is an ugly phenomenon, and we must oppose it. It is legitimate to express an opinion, but it is not legitimate to silence, intimidate, or resort to violence. We have friends around the world, yet even they find it difficult to defend Israel in the face of the shocking statements made by our own elected officials. For instance: “Dropping an atomic bomb on Gaza is an option”; “Within two or three years, we will be in Gaza with half a million Jews, and the two million Arabs will no longer be there”; or “Eliminating 30\u201340 people every night through targeted killings\u2014and not just those who pose an immediate threat.”<\/p>\n
Many Israelis dismiss the elected officials who make such remarks as mere clowns, stirring up provocations just to gain screen time. Here in Israel, these statements are quickly forgotten – but that is not the case elsewhere, and rightly so. For such repugnant statements are voiced by those who hold the authority to take human lives, and they raise difficult moral questions regarding what is taking place in Gaza. And what of the situation in the West Bank? Turning a blind eye to settler violence – at times even encouraging it – constitutes a grave moral failure, one that jeopardizes the future of the State of Israel as a legitimate democracy. Are we to expect this situation to continue unchecked, without any response?<\/p>\n
Our elected officials ought to be the best among us, serving as role models for the children who listen to them and look up to them. Instead, in recent years, we have witnessed a coarsening of public discourse, a disregard for human life, and a rise in racism. I hope that, before long, we will see the emergence of worthy leaders – leaders who understand that compassion and humanity are not signs of weakness, nor do they diminish the justification for defending ourselves.<\/p>\n
I say this not as a politician, of course, but as a musician\u2014and, first and foremost, as a human being. As the Music Director of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, I have always taken pride in its history and legacy: an orchestra founded in the 1930s with the aim of rescuing Jewish refugees from Europe. Over the years, it has grown into one of the world\u2019s most significant musical ensembles, performing regularly in the most prestigious concert halls and at the most renowned festivals. While the orchestra is an independent entity, it views itself as a representative of Israeli society on the global stage and I take pride not only in its extraordinary quality but also in its immense investment in education and in fostering connections between the various populations within Israel – bringing different groupings closer together, including the Arab community.<\/p>\n
Music has never put an end to war, yet it teaches us a great deal about humanity, as it compels us to listen, to think, and to feel. I hope that we may all be led by figures for whom compassion, humanity, and personal example serve as guiding principles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Throughout my life, I have known how to express myself without words – through music. To me, music\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":657924,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":["post-657923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=657923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657923\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/657924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=657923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=657923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=657923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}